Soil sensor grid

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing optimal irrigation or watering, and more specifically providing a soil sensor grid placed in the ground of a landscaped property, in commercial, residential or even agricultural areas. The soil sensor grid can allow for optimal water usage in a specified irrigation area by providing real time data to an irrigation system and a user to optimize water usage. A soil sensor grid, or moisture sensor grid, may be installed on a property, buried in the ground, to provide current and real time feedback of the current moisture levels of the soil. The moisture data is uploaded to the cloud and provided to a user and the irrigation system allowing a user to automatically or manually manipulate the irrigation system to properly water or irrigate different portions of the property based on the data from the soil sensor grid.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The present disclosure is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/274,593, filed Sep. 23, 2016, the entire contents of which is herebyincorporated in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to irrigation management, and morespecifically to providing a soil sensor grid, placed in the ground of alandscaped property, in commercial, residential or even agriculturalareas. The soil sensor grid can allow for optimal water usage in aspecified irrigation area.

BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. This increasingscarcity is pressuring consumers and governments alike to consider howthey use water and how they can use it more wisely. The costs of waterare also increasing as a result of scarcity, and home owners, farms,businesses and the like are under pressure to reduce costs associatedwith using water.

Many irrigation users need water to maintain the grounds of theirbusiness facilities, their farms or ranches, and their residences. Someestimates speculate that landscape irrigation accounts for nearlyone-third of all residential water use, and totals almost nine billiongallons per day. Much of that water is wasted due to inefficientirrigation methods and systems.

As a result, water users are looking for options to reduce water usagewithout negatively impacting their landscape. However, doing so oftenrequires expertise in landscape irrigation and may require expensiveequipment. Furthermore, some water users are unsure whether they willever recoup the investment they make in the system. Many water usersforgo the benefits of more sophisticated irrigation systems and wastewater as a result.

In addition, many irrigation systems can over water or under waterbecause there is no feedback from the soil to know if the grounds aregetting enough or too much water. Distribution of water is consistentlyone of the biggest problems in the irrigation and sprinkler industry.

Some irrigation systems are able to access information on the cloud,such as weather forecasts, temperature forecasts and other informationto manipulate the irrigation system and its watering duration. Somesystems also utilize the evapotranspiration (ET) information for a localarea. However, sadly this information may not be very sight specific orlandscape specific for a landscape owner or manager.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herein is a system and method for providing optimal waterusage for a specific area of a property or landscape, whether that is acommercial business, a residential neighborhood, a park, a farm or ranchor other landscape. In one embodiment a plurality of sensors may beplaced in the ground in a landscaped area. The sensors may be positionedin a grid like formation or alternatively in a strategic pattern withina landscape to optimize the usage of a sensor to sense the condition, ormoisture level, of the soil.

The soil sensor grid may be developed with an irrigation management planfor a specific property using characteristics of the property and thuspositioning the sensors in the appropriate pattern. Residentiallandscapes may be somewhat different from commercial landscapes whichmay be different from agricultural landscapes.

The appropriate system may be placed in an area that has yet to belandscaped our utilized or can be placed in a previously establishedlandscaped area, such as a farm, commercial buildings or residentialneighborhoods. The method to install the system may involve visiting theproperty that is to have an irrigation system installed or thatpreviously had an irrigation system installed. A technician may identifyone or more characteristics of the property and what water usage isutilized and what may affect water usage. The technician may develop anirrigation plan based on the property, whether an irrigation system isalready in use or if a new irrigation system needs to be developed andinstalled.

The method may also involve determining a value of irrigation system andthe soil sensor system for the property. The system itself will optimizethe water usage by the sensors providing feedback to the controller, orsmart controller, allowing for only optimum water usage in theappropriate areas where the sensor grid is utilized. The sensor grid maybe integrated with the irrigation system and may be wired or wireless,or the sensor grid may be separate from and independent from theirrigation system and may be wired or wireless. The controller may allowfor the sensor grid and irrigation system to communicate thus allowingthe optimum water usage for the appropriate landscape.

Rather than rely solely on temperatures and forecasted weather thesensor grid will provide real-time feedback to the irrigation systemregarding the state of the landscape. This, in turn, provides foroptimal water usage while maintaining the landscape in a way thatsatisfies the property owner. The method and system disclosed hereinprovides information to the cloud, rather than simply taking informationfrom the cloud.

Other aspects, as well as features and advantages of various aspects, ofthe present embodiments will become apparent to those of skill in theart though consideration of the ensuing description, the accompanyingdrawings and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a soil sensor grid in communication with acontroller;

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross sectional side view of the soil sensor gridof FIG. 1 within the ground with the soil sensor grid in communicationwith the controller;

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the sensor grid of FIG. 1depicted in a commercial landscape setting; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of amethod of managing an irrigation system with sensors or a sensor grid.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring in general to the accompanying drawings, various embodimentsof the present method and system are illustrated to show the structureand methods for a sensor grid which may be integrated with an irrigationsystem. Common elements of the illustrated embodiments are designatedwith like numerals. It should be understood that the figures presentedare not meant to be illustrative of actual views of any particularportion of the actual device structure, but are merely schematicrepresentations which are employed to more clearly and fully depictembodiments of the system.

The following provides a more detailed description of ways to implementthe present system and method and various representative embodimentsthereof. The following description sets forth the proper method ofinstalling and implementing a soil sensor grid system and how the systemwill interface with a smart controller, or controller, to adequatelywater specific parts of a property or landscape. In this description,some drawings may illustrate landscapes or irrigation plans and whilethese are representative of the system they are in no means meant to berestrictive to the illustrated design. The system and method of theembodiments described may be performed in numerous ways and areconsidered part of this disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, a soil sensor system 10, or moisture sensor grid,may include a controller 12, which may be a smart controller. Thecontroller 12 may be the same controller that controls an irrigationsystem 30 (see FIG. 3) that will utilize the soil sensor system 10.Alternatively the controller 12 may be a different controller than anirrigation system controller but may be in communication with andprovide information and data to the irrigation system 30, whether it bethe same controller or separate controller. The controller 12 may bepositioned in close proximity to the irrigation system controller, ifthey are not one in the same, and they may be linked via a centralizedcomputer or the cloud. The controller 12 may reside within an irrigationsystem house, within a garage, on the side of a building or otheradequate location to communicate with sensors 18 (See FIG. 2).

The controller 12 may be in communication with a plurality of sensorgrids. A first sensor grid 14 may include a plurality of sensors 16 thatmay be in communication with each other. The controller 12 may also beindividually in communication with at least one sensor 18 or theplurality of sensors 16. Each sensor 18 may be in communication witheach other and the plurality of sensors 16 may be in communication withmultiple sensor grids.

The first sensor grid 14 may be positioned within or underneath a lawnor grassy landscape. The first grid 14 may position sensors 18 that areequidistant from one another. The distance between each sensor 18 willvary depending on the irrigation system 30 that is utilized with thefirst grid 14. For example, in a substantially flat grassy landscape itmay make sense to position each sensor 18 roughly one meter, or threefeet, apart from the next sensor 18. The distances may vary greatdepending on the types of sprinkler heads, sprinklers, amount of waterflow, water timing and other factors utilized in irrigation managementas well as the landscape being irrigated. For instance, if the landscapehas numerous hills or valleys a greater number of sensors may beutilized toward the top of peaks and less in the valleys, or vice versa.Or the sensors 18 may be positioned continually equidistant across thelandscape regardless of the landscape or the other factors previouslymentioned.

A second sensor grid 20 may be in communication with the controller 12and may have sensors 18 positioned in a pattern to mimic the landscapeabove where the second sensor grid 20 is positioned under the ground. Athird sensor grid 22 may also be in communication with the controller 12and may have multiple sensors 18 distributed in a pattern as well.

It will be appreciated that the number of sensor grids is not limited toone, two or three, but rather any number of sensor grids may be utilizedto relay soil moisture information to the controller 12. While threegrids may have been previously disclosed, any number of grids and anynumber of controllers is contemplated herein. Likewise, any number ofsensors within a sensor grid is also contemplated herein.

The sensors 18 may be in communication with each other either throughwired or wireless relay. Alternatively they may simply be wired in asingle line, or multiple lines. The sensors 18 may communicate with eachother and some may be wired while others are wireless. For example afirst set of sensors 24 may be wired together and in communication withthe controller 12. A second set of sensors 26 may be wirelesslycommunicating with the first set 24 wherein the second set 26 obtainsthe information about the soil moisture content and relays it to thefirst 24 which then relays the information to the controller 12. Thisrelay of information may be mimicked or copied for any number of sets ofsensors and each subsequent set of sensors relays the information to theprevious set of sensors until the information is relayed to thecontroller 12 itself.

Alternatively, a first set of sensors 24 may be wired to the second setof sensors 26 and the second set 26 is wired to a third set, and so onand so forth wherein each subsequent set of sensors is wired to theprevious set sending an electrical signal of moisture content of thesoil back to the controller. In a wired platform the electrical signalmay be relayed or may simply be directly sent to the controller 12without relay through data lines. In a wired configuration the wire mayneed to be buried under the surface of the landscape at a distance thatwill not allow the wire to be cut or chopped by landscaping tools suchas lawnmowers or weed trimmers. The wires utilized may need to be robustenough to withstand landscaping tools. Furthermore, the wires and wiredsensors may be required to be manually buried in the ground in thepattern as necessitated by the landscape. The distance the wires andsensors may need to be buried may vary, again, depending on thelandscape and then alternatively depending on the soil content. However,a number of centimeters, 2-10 cm, or 1-4 inches, between each sensor maybe appropriate. In a wired configuration power may be supplied to thesensors 18 via the wire or power conduit that may be part of or coupledto the data line.

In a wireless configuration the wireless sensors may need to bepositioned in such a manner that they may communicate with thecontroller 12. Certain wireless sensors, such as ZigBee® sensors(amongst other wireless sensors), may be utilized to communicate withthe controller and allow the moisture content of the soil to be uploadedto the controller 12. The wireless sensors may individually utilize arelay to communicate with the controller 12, particularly for thosesensors that are at a distance where they could not communicate with thecontroller 12 directly. For those wireless sensors that are close inproximity to the controller 12 each wireless sensor may individuallyprovide the moisture content of the soil information to the controller12 directly. Wireless sensors may be manually installed into the groundor may be installed via a plug-style installation. Likewise, thesesensors may need to be inserted into the soil at optimum lengths belowthe service between 2-10 centimeters depending on the soil content andlandscape. In a wireless configuration the sensors 18 may each beindividually battery powered or multiple sensors 18 may be coupled to asingle battery pack. The sensors may also be continually on or may turnon and off at certain times or intervals to make them the mosteffective. For example, the sensor 18 may turn on early in the morningfor an interval of time to gather the moisture content data and relaythat data to the controller 12 and then shut off. Alternatively, thesensor 18 may turn on multiple times per day (e.g. morning, midday,night) and relay the information to the controller 12. After informationis relayed to the controller 12 each time the sensor 18 will turn off,thus conserving power. The wired or wireless versions of sensors 18 maysense in a number of capacities and may be on continually or may turnoff and on as the examples provided describe.

As a means of moisture sensing a sensor 18 may sense in such a manner asto “turn on” if the there is sufficient water whereas a sensor 18 mayremain off if there is not enough moisture to “turn on” the sensor.Essentially like a switch that is activated by the presence of water.Alternatively, the sensor 18 may turn on when water is not sufficientlypresent to notify a user that water is required.

Wireless sensors 18 will be required to only be buried in the ground toa depth that will allow them to continue to relay information wirelesslyto the controller 12. Wired sensors 18 may not have the restriction ondepth of the sensor in order to continue to relay information to thecontroller 12.

It will be appreciated that there are a number of alternatives that maybe used to relay information from the sensors 18 to the controller 12;such as, having a localized hub displaced throughout each grid which hubmay gather the information and communicate with the controller 12.

The controller 12 may communicate information to the irrigation system30 based on the feedback from the sensors 18. Computer software may beutilized, which may be cloud based software, which allows the sensorsand irrigation system 30 to communicate with one another. Each sensor 18may have an identifying number that corresponds with a location in theirrigation system 30. The sensors 18 may provide soil moisture contentto the controller 12 daily or multiple times per day. The sensors 18upload that information to the controller 12 and the controller 12 mayrelay that information to the cloud based software. The informationprovided by the sensors 18 may then be reported to Google® Earth orother overlay image 32 of the property that shows the moisture contentat those sensor locations and how they may correspond to zones in anirrigation system 30 (refer to FIG. 3).

The soil moisture content from the sensor(s) 18 information may berelayed to multiple individuals or users, including landscapers,installers, owners, and others. Each sensor 18 may be depicted on theoverlay image 32 and may be color-coded (e.g. green=sufficient water,yellow=low water, red=insufficient water), or other user friendlyinterface, to show the status of each location in a landscapecorresponding with a zone of the irrigation system 30.

The software that communicates with the irrigation system 30 and thesoil sensor system 10 may include actions to be taken by the irrigationsystem 30 depending on the moisture content provided from the sensors 18to the controller 12. For example, one action that may be relayed is theneed to water a specific zone (or even a specific sprinkler head) if themoisture content from a specific sensor 18 is too low. Another possibleaction may be to stop watering a specific zone (or even a specificsprinkler) if the moisture content for a specific sensor 18 is too high.The moisture sensor 18 may be sensitive enough and provide such realtime information to communicate with the irrigation system 30 such thatoptimal water is provided to each zone and/or sprinkler.

It may be possible to provide optimal moisture continually with thesystem disclosed herein or it may only be necessary to utilize on adaily basis so as not to have irrigation systems continually turning offand on as information is relayed from the sensors 18. The system 10 maythen allow for real time and property specific moisture levels ratherthan relying on evapotranspiration (ET) rates or relying on factorsassociated with temperature, rain, weather forecasts, etc. Essentiallyit is similar to real time ET rates.

Referring to FIG. 4, one embodiment of a method 100 for providingmoisture content to the cloud or to the cloud and ultimately to a useris contemplated. The method 100 may begin and reference numeral 102,with the installation of moisture sensors 18, or a sensor grid, as wellas a smart controller 12 on the property. Installation may requiredifferent sensors 18 and different numbers of sensors based on thelandscape. Furthermore, the depth of the sensors will also be considereddepending on the sensors utilized. Each of the sensors 18 may requireconfiguration 104 for the location that the sensor is installed. Forexample more sensors or different moisture levels may be required for alawn or grassy area versus a location with only shrubs and trees.

The moisture sensors may sense the moisture levels 106 in the soil theyare installed in. The moisture levels may be determined a number of wayswhich are well known in the art for a sensor to provide a moisturereading in the soil. For example a sensor 18 may measure soil moisturetension in kilopascals (kPa) and determine that if the sensors relayinformation that the measurement is in the range of −10 kPa to −35 kPa(or anywhere there between) that water may be needed. While these rangesare purely illustrative levels below the and above those numbers mayrequire watering as well and these ranges may be expanded depending onthe types of irrigation, such as agricultural irrigation, including treecrops, versus commercial irrigation versus residential irrigation.Furthermore the landscape will determine different ranges as well. Thesensor may relay information 108 regarding the moisture levels to thesmart controller. The data, or information, provided to the smartcontroller may be simple or complex. The sensor may provide such as theexact moisture content of the soil or it may relay only enough data orinformation to the smart controller to let it know that the soil in thatarea needs water or doesn't need water, is too dry or is too wet, orthat the moisture level is satisfactory.

The information, or data, provided by the sensors to the smartcontroller may then be uploaded 110 to the cloud, or the cloud basedsoftware. The data on the cloud may then be dispersed but may ideally beutilized by the property owner or manager, the landscape manager or theperson responsible for the irrigation system. The data provided allows auser to utilize the data to manage water usage on the landscape in amore efficient manner.

Moisture levels relayed to the cloud may be communicated 112 to a mapoverlay, such as Google® Earth or similar that shows a map of theproperty with the landscape. The map overlay may be comprised of a mapshowing the positioned sensors, or the sensor grid, and the output datafrom each sensor on the map. The map may also show individual sprinklersor sprinkler zones. A user may be able to access 114 the map to see themoisture levels of the landscape. The map may provide information to theuser in a color format, number format or other user friendly format tocommunicate the moisture level to the user. As previously disclosed itmay be as simple as a color scheme of green means sufficient water,yellow means low water, and red means no water or similar. A user may beable to click on, or push, or tap each individual sensor on the mapscreen and determine its moisture level.

The user may turn on or off 116 sprinklers, or zones of sprinklers,based on the data provided by the sensors or sensor grid. A user may beable to click on, or push, or tap on each sprinkler or zone ofsprinklers to determine what sprinklers are in the vicinity of whichsensors. The user may be able to tap on each sprinkler, or zone ofsprinklers, and with each tap or click, or push, control each sprinkler,or zone of sprinklers, from the map screen.

The user may set specific duration of watering, time of day forwatering, number of times to water in a day, week, month or year.Furthermore the user may manually turn off and on sprinklers, or zonesof sprinklers, based on the data provided by the sensors. Alternatively,a user may set up the system 10, or may manipulate the system 10, afterinstallation, to automatically water based on the data provided by thesensors. For example, a sensitivity level may be configured for eachsensor and a user may manipulate that sensitivity level such that whenthe moisture level in the soil drops to a pre-determined level thesensor relays the moisture level to the smart controller and to thecloud and pre-determined moisture level sets off a trigger in thesoftware to water that area that was notified by the sensor and thus thesprinklers will “automatically” water that area.

The data from the sensors is provided to the cloud and therefore may beaccessed on any computer device with cloud access. The data access maybe through cellular communication, radio frequency, Wi-Fi, wiredconnection (such as Ethernet or other modem).

Although the foregoing description contains many specifics, these shouldnot be construed as limiting the scope of the invention or of any of theappended claims, but merely as providing information pertinent to somespecific embodiments that may fall within the scopes of the inventionand the appended claims. Features from different embodiments may beemployed in combination. In addition, other embodiments of the inventionmay also be devised which lie within the scopes of the invention and theappended claims. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated andlimited only by the appended claims and their legal equivalents. Alladditions, deletions and modifications to the invention, as disclosedherein, that fall within the meaning and scopes of the claims are to beembraced by the claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A system for monitoring moisture content in a soilcomprising: an irrigation system comprising at least one firstsprinkler; at least one first moisture sensor and at least one secondmoisture sensor, wherein the at least one first moisture sensor and theat least one second moisture sensor are in communication with eachother; a moisture sensor grid comprising the at least one first moisturesensor and the at least one second moisture sensor, wherein the moisturesensor grid provides moisture content data from the at least one firstmoisture sensor and the at least one second moisture sensor to a relaydevice; at least one controller in communication with the relay device;a cloud based platform in communication with the controller; the cloudbased platform configured to receive the moisture content data from atleast one of: the at least one controller, the at least one firstmoisture sensor, and the at least one second moisture sensor, the cloudbased platform further configured to communicate the moisture contentdata to a user interface; wherein the irrigation system, in response toreceiving input from the cloud based platform, performs one of eitherwatering more or watering less based on the moisture content data; theuser interface configured to receive a third-party map overlay, thethird-party map overlay comprising a satellite image of the moisturesensor grid displayed overlaid on the satellite image at a location ofthe moisture sensor grid, the at least one first sprinkler displayedoverlaid on the satellite image at a location of the at least one firstsprinkler, and moisture content data from the at least one firstmoisture sensor displayed overlaid on the satellite image at a locationof the first moisture sensor; wherein the moisture content datadisplayed is based on both the satellite image relating to the locationof the first moisture sensor and moisture sensor data from the at leastone first moisture sensor; the user interface displaying the map overlaywith real-time output data from the at least one first moisture sensor,the user interface further comprising at least one selectable secondarymenu displayed overlaid on the satellite image at a location of the atleast one first sprinkler, such that when a user selects the at leastone first sprinkler, the secondary menu is displayed overlaid on thesatellite image at the location of the at least one first sprinkler, theat least one selectable secondary menu comprising predetermined,selectable commands relating to the at least one first sprinkler.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein one of the at least one first moisture sensoror the at least one second moisture sensor communicates solely to the atleast one controller via the relay device.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein the at least one first moisture sensor and the at least onesecond moisture sensor comprise a plurality of sensors; and wherein theat least one controller comprises a plurality of controllers.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the user interface is configured to allow auser to manipulate the irrigation system and to manipulate the pluralityof sensors to adjust for at least one of sensitivity and changes tolandscape.
 5. The system of claim 4 further comprising: a cloud basedsoftware configured to receive data from the plurality of sensors,wherein the cloud based software stores instructions that when executedby a processor cause the processor to perform instructions, theinstructions comprising: receiving data from the plurality of moisturesensors; transferring data to the user interface; and allowing a user tocontrol the plurality of controllers from the user interface based onthe data from the plurality of moisture sensors.
 6. A system foroptimizing irrigation in a soil comprising: an irrigation systemcomprising at least one smart controller and a first zone and a secondzone; a moisture sensor grid comprising: a plurality of moisture sensorsinstalled in the soil in a grid format in the first zone and the secondzone, wherein the moisture sensor grid provides moisture content datafrom at least one of the plurality of moisture sensors to the at leastone smart controller; a cloud based platform in communication with atleast one smart controller, the cloud based platform configured toreceive the moisture content data from the at least one smartcontroller; wherein the irrigation system, in response to receivingcommunication from the cloud based platform, performs one of eitherwatering more or watering less at at least one of the first zone and thesecond zone; and a map overlay comprising the plurality of moisturesensors shown overlaid on a satellite image of a property at a locationof the plurality of moisture sensors, and further comprising the firstzone and the second zone shown overlaid on the satellite image of theproperty at a location of the first zone and the second zone; and a userinterface displaying the map overlay with real-time output data from theat least one of the plurality of moisture sensors and from the satelliteimage of the property at the location of the at least one of theplurality of moisture sensors; wherein the user interface displaying themap overlay with real-time output data from the at least one of theplurality of moisture sensors further comprises selections for the userto adjust a sensitivity; the user interface displaying the map overlaywith real-time output data from the plurality of moisture sensors, theuser interface further comprising a first selectable secondary menudisplayed overlaid on the satellite image at a location of the firstzone, such that when a user selects the first zone, the secondary menuis displayed overlaid on the satellite image at the location of thefirst zone, the first selectable secondary menu comprisingpredetermined, selectable commands relating to the first zone; and theuser interface further comprising a second selectable secondary menudisplayed overlaid on the satellite image at a location of the secondzone, such that when a user selects the second zone, the secondary menuis displayed overlaid on the satellite image at the location of thesecond zone, the second selectable secondary menu comprisingpredetermined, selectable commands relating to the second zone, andwherein the predetermined, selectable commands relating to the secondzone are distinct from the predetermined, selectable commands relatingto the first zone.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the cloud basedplatform is configured to receive moisture content data from at leastone of that at least one smart controller or the moisture sensor grid;wherein the plurality of moisture sensors are equidistant from eachother.
 8. The system of claim 7 further comprising: a computer whereinthe computer comprises a desktop computer, a tablet, a laptop, or asmartphone.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the user interface isconfigured to allow a user to manipulate the irrigation system and tomanipulate the plurality of moisture sensors to adjust for at least oneof sensitivity and changes to landscape.
 10. The system of claim 9further comprising: a cloud based software configured to receive datafrom the moisture sensor grid, wherein the cloud based software storesinstructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor toperform instructions, the instructions comprising: receiving data fromthe moisture sensor grid; transferring data to the user interface; andallowing a user to control the plurality of controllers from the userinterface based on the data from the moisture sensor grid.
 11. A methodfor optimizing watering for an irrigation system, the method comprisingthe following steps in the following order: installing at least onemoisture sensor grid in a grid format in a soil on a property, the atleast one moisture sensor grid comprising at least two moisture sensors;selectively powering the at least two moisture sensors; sensing, by theat least two moisture sensors, moisture levels in the soil of theproperty; communicating the moisture levels from the at least twomoisture sensors to a relay device, the relay device in communicationwith a controller, and the controller in communication with acloud-based platform; shutting off the at least two moisture sensorsafter the moisture levels are communicated to the cloud-based platform;transferring the moisture levels from the cloud-based platform to acomputer in communication with the irrigation system; wherein theirrigation system, in response to receiving moisture levels from thecloud based platform, performs one of either watering more or wateringless based on the moisture levels; obtaining a map overlay comprisingthe at least two moisture sensors, the at least two moisture sensorscomprising a first moisture sensor and a second moisture sensor, thefirst moisture sensor and the second moisture sensor shown overlaid on asatellite image of a property at a location of the first moisture sensorand the second moisture sensor, respectively; displaying the at leastone moisture sensor grid on a user interface in communication with thecloud-based platform, the user interface overlaid on the satellite imageof the property based on satellite data and moisture level data, theuser interface further comprising at least one selectable secondary menudisplayed overlaid on the satellite image at a location of the firstmoisture sensor, such that when a user selects one of the first moisturesensor, the secondary menu is displayed overlaid on the satellite imageat the location of the first moisture sensor, the at least oneselectable secondary menu comprising predetermined, selectable commandsrelating to the first moisture sensor.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the at least two moisture sensors comprises a plurality ofmoisture sensors equidistant from each other.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein the moisture grid is customized for the property.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises installing atleast one controller in communication with the at least two moisturesensors.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one controllercomprises a plurality of controllers.
 16. The method of claim 11,wherein transferring the moisture levels to a computer comprisescommunicating the moisture levels in a format, wherein the computercomprises a desktop computer, a tablet, a laptop, or a smartphone. 17.The method of claim 16 further comprising: accessing the moisture levelsthrough the cloud based platform.
 18. The method of claim 11 comprising:manipulating the irrigation system in accordance with the moisturelevels sensed from the moisture sensor.
 19. The method of claim 18comprising: sending a signal to the at least one controller to water theproperty in accordance with the moisture levels provided by the moisturesensor.
 20. The system of claim 2, wherein the system further comprisesa power source for selectively powering the at least one first moisturesensor and the at least one second moisture sensor and selectivelyde-powering the at least one first moisture sensor and the at least onesecond moisture sensor after the moisture content data has beencommunicated to the cloud based platform.
 21. The system of claim 2,wherein the system further comprises a power source for selectivelypowering the at least one first moisture sensor and the at least onesecond moisture sensor when a predetermined moisture level is reached.22. The system of claim 2, further comprising a localized hub, each ofthe first moisture sensor and the second moisture sensor incommunication with the localized hub, and the localized hub incommunication with the at least one controller and configured tocommunicate the moisture content data to the at least one controller.